HEALTH NOTES: Jab offers hope to migraine patients

A revolutionary drug that halts migraines in their tracks is giving NHS patients their lives back.

The once-a-month jab, called Erenumab, halves the number of days marred by migraines in a third of those who take it.

Some half a million Britons will be entitled to the drug, called Aimovig, if it is approved for widespread use later this week.

The first new migraine medicine in 20 years, it is already being prescribed to NHS patients at Guy’s and St Thomas’ pain management centre in London. ‘For the first time we have a specific treatment for migraine that works really well,’ says consultant neurologist Dr Giorgio Lambru. ‘If you look at data, you see patients who fail all other treatments can have their life back when they use Aimovig.’

News of the drug was unveiled as part of a new BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat documentary to be broadcast tomorrow at 5.45pm.

Can’t resist cooing over a bonny baby or a cute kitten? You may be experiencing a new concept known as kama muta. Not to be confused with the sex manual ‘karma sutra’, the term has been coined by psychologists to describe the heartwarming feeling we experience when we see something cute. Symptoms include a sensation of warmness, a desire to help, chills, goosebumps and tearfulness.

In two studies involving 350 volunteers, those shown videos of kittens had significantly more kama muta than others who watched films about octopuses.

‘Our study provides the first evidence that cute stimuli evoke the heartwarming emotion of kama muta,’ say the University of Oslo researchers, who add that when people are smitten, they are more likely to give to charity and to help others.

Can’t resist cooing over a bonny baby or a cute kitten? You may be experiencing a new concept known as kama muta (stock image)

Tiny magnetic beads could treat pre-eclampsia, a serious condition affecting 60,000 pregnancies every year. It happens when a mother’s blood pressure rises, potentially leading to complications such as prematurity or even miscarriage. Now, research shows inserting microscopic beads into the blood can slash levels of a harmful molecule that is raised in pre-eclampsia, and is thought to exacerbate the problem.

The early research by scientists at Cochin Hospital in Paris focused on a molecule released by the placenta into the bloodstream. High levels block the flow of other molecules important for healthy blood vessels.

The magnetic beads reduced levels of the harmful molecule by 40 per cent and freed up to twice as much of the healthy molecules, compared to a control group who received no treatment.

How Pythons got it right… 

Seems the Monty Python stars were right to ‘Always look on the bright side of life’. Scientists at Harvard studied 6,000 retired people for ten years and found that those with a bright outlook were 24 per cent more likely to stay free of chronic disease and be mentally sharp and mobile. Their report appeared in the American Journal Of Epidemiology.